Efforts by Guinea Bissau's parliament to force President
Joao Bernardo Vieira to resign are contrary to the
Abuja peace accord which ended five months of civil
war, African diplomats told IRIN today (Monday).

"This is interfering with the Abuja Accords. If
anything, it disrupts this schedule," one diplomat
said.

Under the accord Vieira, who has refused to resign,
is to head a government of national unity, which has
still to be formed, until elections in March 1999 which
he will not contest.

The diplomat said the parliament was a marginal force
and another diplomat, who also spoke on condition of
anonymity, said the parliamentary motion was non-binding.

The motion, which accused Vieira of violating the constitution
by declaring a state of siege and by calling in Senegalese
and Guinean troops to put down an army revolt without
consulting parliament, was adopted unopposed on Friday
at the parliament's first session since the mutiny
on 7 June.

Parliament contends that there are no joint defence
agreements between Senegal and Guinea and Guinea Bissau
which Vieira invoked when he called in the foreign
troops.

EU pledges reconstruction aid

The European Commissioner, Joao de Deus Pinheiro, assured
a delegation from the Guinea Bissau parliament on Thursday
that the EU would help the country rebuild once a firm
peace was re-established, Lusa reported. The four-member
delegation, composed of ruling party and opposition
legislators, also asked the EU to press Vieira to implement
that part of the Abuja Peace Accord that calls for
the withdrawal of foreign troops shoring up the government.

Immunisation campaign to begin today

A UNICEF immunisation effort, disrupted by fighting,
is due to resume in Guinea Bissau today, OCHA said
in a report outlining the current military, political
and humanitarian situation in the country.

The full report OCHA report can be found on http://www.reliefweb.int.

The campaign, which will run through 10 December, is
being undertaken with MSF and will benefit 10,625 children,
10,000 pregnant women and 16,500 women of childbearing
age.

As of 26 November, 2,000 litres of kerosene needed for
the cold chain for the immunisation campaigns were
to have been moved from Senegal to Guinea Bissau.

UNICEF has also cleaned five wells and built seven public
latrines in Safim, five km north of Bissau. As a result,
the agency said, there has been a "considerable
improvement" in sanitation for the estimated 12,000
displaced from Bissau, the Guinea Bissau capital. In
addition, a UNICEF contractor is repairing the water
supply system in Bafata, 100 km east of Bissau. Meanwhile,
UNICEF continues to provide water to the town's hospital
by truck from Gabu, 60 km farther east.

Education

OCHA said the WFP has flown 50 humanitarian daily rations
to Bafata for trial in two schools. UNICEF has agreed
to provide food to encourage teachers and schoolchildren
to return, OCHA said, and 114 mt of UNICEF humanitarian
dry rations (HDR) and other basic foodstuffs in Dakar
will be transported to Guinea Bissau by WFP. This follows
meetings in Gabu and Bafata to re-establish parent/teacher
associations and mobilise community leaders to reopen
primary schools, OCHA said.

UNICEF returns to Guinea Bissau

All UNICEF national staff have returned to their duty
stations in Guinea Bissau and most other UN agencies
now have a continued presence in the country, OCHA
said. It said that all UN agencies would share common
premises which will help coordination and make the
collective response more effective. The agencies are
WFP, UNHCR, UNICEF, UNFPA, UNDP and OCHA.

Situation of refugees

Outside Guinea Bissau, in the Senegalese town of Thies,
903 registered refugees are being provided with health,
educational and nutritional needs. Students are being
taught from local administration buildings which, OCHA
said, were not in good condition. However, there are
enough school books and other educational materials.

A breakfast service has been re-established with twice
weekly standard rations and sugared rice porridge for
the other days. However, OCHA said, milk was still
required.

NIGERIA: Electoral chief casts doubts on voters list

The head of the Independent National Election Commission
(INEC), Ephraim Akpata, said yesterday many of the
names appearing in a newly compiled electoral list
for the forthcoming local government elections slated
for 5 December were "fictitious", news organisations
reported, quoting the Nigerian press. AFP quoted Akpata
as saying that " ... I have a strong suspicion
that quite a number are fictitious names, because of
the malpractices that marked the registration exercise".
It said that nearly 60 million names were on the list,
while the electoral commission had estimated that the
total electorate would not exceed 40 million. AFP
reported that during the registration exercise, INEC
officials and others had complained about the attempted
bulk purchase of voter cards by representatives of
political parties.

Diplomatic sources in Lagos told IRIN today that the
international community was encouraged by all the changes
ushered in by the Nigerian leader, General Abdulsalami
Abubakar. One of the sources said it did not expect
a perfect poll but so far as it reflected the will
of the people in its choice of a new leadership it
would be "acceptable". The source said that
Nigerians seemed more satisfied with the electoral
process now than in 1993 and that INEC's openness in
dealing with problems and concerns had given the organisation
credibility.

Special Rapporteur on human rights meets president

The UN Special Rapporteur on human rights in Nigeria,
Soli Sorabjee, was scheduled today to meet Abubakar,
in the Nigerian capital, Abuja. An official with the
office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights
in Geneva told IRIN today that Sorabjee's visit was
continuing smoothly. He had visited the northern Nigerian
cities of Kaduna and Kano over the weekend and was
in the eastern city of Port Harcourt on Thursday last
week where he visited Ogoniland and the parents of
the executed human rights activist, Ken Saro-Wiwa.
Saro-Wiwa, an advocate for the Ogonis' rights to a
clean and safe environment in southeastern oil-rich
Nigeria, was executed in November 1995,

The Nigerian daily 'The Guardian' quoted Sorabjee as
saying of the relationship between the host communities
and oil companies that: " I am here to see that
the damage is being minimised, and to persuade the
oil companies to get more into development projects
in consultation with the community leaders and let
them have a sense of participation."

However, Nigerian human rights organisations criticised
Sorabjee for being too lenient with the military authorities'
stand on human rights in Nigeria, radio station Africa
No. 1 said on Friday. Gani Fawehinmi, coordinator of
the Joint Action Committee of Nigeria (JACON), and
Abraham Adesanya, deputy chairman of the National Democratic
Coalition (NADECO), accused the UN Rapporteur of being
too close to the military and declined to honour any
invitation extended by the UN. JACON and NADECO, both
southern-based organisations, have been fighting for
the return to democracy.

The UN official in Geneva said the purpose of Sorajbee's
first trip to Nigeria was to strike a balance between
establishing good contacts with the government and
being open to a wide-range of civil society representatives.
He was "opening the way" for further contacts
and discussions, the official added.

Carter Center to send observers

The US-based Carter Center announced that the former
US president and head of the center, Jimmy Carter,
would lead a team of international electoral monitors
to Nigeria, AFP reported, quoting the 'Post Express
Wire' on Monday. The team is expected to monitor the
elections on Saturday and then return for the state
governorship and state assembly elections in January.
It would also monitor the national assembly and presidential
elections scheduled for February.

GABON: Presidential candidate accused of gun running

A representative of a Gabonese opposition coalition,
the Haut Conseil de Resistance (HCR), has accused presidential
candidate Pierre Mamboundou of bringing arms into the
country and to be preparing for an urban uprising during
the presidential election slated for 6 December, AFP
reported on Friday last week. Aloise Obame said "under
Mamboundou's instructions, he had personally participated
in the purchase of 50 containers of small arms in the
neighbouring country of Congo (Brazzaville)".
He added that the intent was to destabilise and discredit
the current government. Mamboundou, leader of the Union
du peuple gabonais (UPG), denied the accusations which
he described as a "pack of lies". AFP quoted
him as saying that: "he was under fire because
he was the only credible candidate who could challenge"
the incumbent President Omar Bongo who has been head
of state since 1967.

Meanwhile, the Gabonese National Communication Council
banned the publication of opinion polls from today
to 6 December, PANA reported. The council, whose mandate
is to ensure media balance towards the country's political
groups during election campaigns, said the publication,
distribution and commentaries on opinion polls would
be prohibited during the given period.

In a related development, PANA reported that a national
seminar intended for local observers and monitors opened
today in Libreville, the capital of Gabon, to finalise
arrangements for the smooth running of elections.

WEST AFRICA: Annan appeals for settlement of Africa's
crises

United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan has told
the France-Africa summit that "collective efforts"
are needed to settle Africa's wars so the continent
can get on with economic and social development, the
UN has said.

"In too many parts of the continent, ethnic divisions
continue to obstruct economic progress and good governance,
making every peace fragile and every division explosive,"
he told the Paris summit on Friday.

Nigeria, Annan said, offered an example of an African
country working constructively to solve its internal
problems. He said Nigeria's ruler, General Abdulsalami
Abubakar, had "chosen the route of genuine democracy
and the rule of law."

MAURITANIA: EU grants US $3.4 million in food aid

The European Union has allocated food aid worth US $3.4
million to Mauritania to cover the next three years,
AFP reported on Sunday, quoting official sources in
the capital, Nouakchott. The sources said the sum was
the first part of a total payment whose value had still
to be decided. The allocation is designed to ensure
food security for the largely desert country of some
1.03 million square km.